Thereza Christina Maria Collection
National Library of Brazil

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SpeakerMuniz Sodré de Araújo Cabral

InstitutionNational Library of Brazil

SubjectThereza Christina Maria Collection

The National Library Foundation, which houses the richest document archive in Brazil, is honored to participate in the World Digital Library, an extraordinary initiative of the Library of Congress, that unites, through the power of the most advanced technology, diverse cultures, going beyond Europe and the Americas, to offer the culture archive from all over the world. This partnership means a lot to our country. Internet users from all over the planet will have access to entire archive documentations and we will continue to collaborate with this information exchange. The fact that Internet users will be able to explore and travel through the fantastic world of culture in a multi-language format is another proof that the intention of the World Digital Library is to go further than one could imagine. This initiative is a wonderful celebration of the existence of all nations and all ethnicities. From diversity with inclusion, and consequently, of all human beings themselves.

The National Library Foundation, considered one of the largest in the world, and also the largest library in Latin America, inherited its archives from the Royal Library, during the Portuguese monarchy in Brazil. The legacy that we are displaying now is the Thereza Christina Maria collection. This collection is composed of 100,000 items; among them books, periodicals, maps, musical scores, drawings, engravings, pictures, and other printed documents and manuscripts. The entire collection of 23,000 pictures belonged to Emperor Dom Pedro II’s private library, the last Emperor in Brazil. It is the largest and the most comprehensive archive of Brazilian and foreign pictures from the 19th century that belong to a public institution in our country. The cultural value of this collection was recognized internationally when it was registered in the Memory of the World International Registry of UNESCO, in 2003. The National Library Foundation will continue collaborating, housing and making the Brazilian cultural patrimony accessible to all mankind.